


Sugar, Sugar

by PastelMess



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Band, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Josh... really has no job, M/M, One Night Stands, Parenthood, Tyler is a singer/songwriter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-12 01:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11727045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelMess/pseuds/PastelMess
Summary: No one ever prepares you for parenting. Tyler learns this the hard way when his entire life is flipped upside due to the introduction of a new family member.Thankfully, this cute guy named Josh seems ready to help.





	Sugar, Sugar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [olgushka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/olgushka/gifts).



> So I've been reading this really awesome fic called [ Sweet Creature ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11181213/chapters/24964287) by Olgushka and it inspired me to take a shot at writing some of my own domestic-parenting stuff! It's really something incredible, so I'd highly recommend you'd check it out.

Tyler studied himself in the mirror one last time, running his hands through his hair. He straightened his button up, wiped away the sweat perspiring on his hairline, and ventured back into the living room. He reached out to sweep a tiny, dark haired child into his hands and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Just a few hours, okay, Frankie?” he pulled her away and wiped away some of the drool bubbling over her lips. “Mommy’s going to take care of you.”

He handed her back to Jenna, who forced a small smile and set the child back down on the carpet. Frankie rolled over onto her stomach and continued to babble.

“Thank you for doing this.”

“Hey,” she said, shrugging, “we both agreed, didn’t we?”

Tyler sighed. “Yeah. We did.”

Jenna looked at him with hurt in her eyes, as she often did these days. Tyler knew why. He was an asshole, an asshole who had dated Jenna because he wanted to see if he could get away with pretending he was straight, and right after the first time they fucked, Tyler had told Jenna he was gay as they laid together, sweaty, naked, and out of breath.

“You’re gay?” she said.

“I’m gay,” Tyler said again.

Jenna kicked him out.

They didn’t talk for an entire month and a half. Tyler would pull their messages up and stare, an apology right on the edge of his fingers, but he never did send it. And one day, Jenna showed up to his apartment out of the blue.

She was crying hysterically when Tyler opened the door. He pulled her into his arms and dragged her over to the couch, where the two of them sat down, Tyler’s arms still around her shoulders. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, what’s wrong?”

“I’m pregnant,” she choked out, and all the blood drained from Tyler’s face.

“You... you’re  _ what?” _

“I’m fucking pregnant. You knocked me up and you, you’re fucking gay.” she started crying again. Tyler’s fingers clenched in the back of her shirt.

“What? How? We were so careful, I was wearing a condom--”

“Yeah? Well it doesn’t fucking matter, does it? Because I am growing a living creature inside of me.”

“Are you sure? Completely sure?”

She sniffed and pulled out of his arms. “I’m sure. I’ve peed on like, seven pregnancy tests. Plus, I never had my period last month, and I’ve been having some serious morning sickness.”

Tyler ran his fingers rapidly through his thick hair. “Shit.”

Jenna scoffed angrily. “You’re telling me. What the hell are we going to do, Tyler? We can’t get married. I am not going to marry someone who doesn’t love me.”

He frowned. “You know that’s not true. I do love you. I love you a lot.”

She looked up at him from her chipped, red fingernails and sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t want us to fight or be upset with each other. I know you love me. You showed me love every day of our relationship. But you know what I mean.”

It was Tyler’s turn to sigh. “Yeah. I know what you mean. So what do we do? Are you going to get an abortion?”

“No. I could never do that.”

“Have you told your family?”

Jenna’s cheeks flushed red. “No. I know what they’ll say. They’ll want us to get married. To have a child out of wedlock--”

“Right,” Tyler interrupted sadly. “We could put the child up for adoption.”

“I don’t want to do that either. You know some of those kids spend their whole lives in an orphanage and I can’t imagine putting our child in that situation.” she laughed nervously. “Our child. Oh my God, Tyler,  _ our  _ child.”

He ran his fingers through his hair again. “Jenna, we both have full time jobs. We can’t just drop everything to take care of a kid.”

“I’m 24, Tyler. And you, you’re almost 30, I think maybe, yeah, it is time for us to think about having children, don’t you think? I know this is unexpected and is going to be a pain, but I think... I think it might be time.”

Tyler shook his head. “Not like this, Jenna. I don’t want to be the kind of person that knocks someone up and then leaves--”

“Then  _ don’t  _ leave. We won’t be the most conventional of parents, but it’ll be okay if we’re both willing to do this. We don’t even have to go through all the legal stuff, we can just, take turns watching the baby or whatever. We can date other people. You can go, find a dude, and I’ll go find a dude, and, and...” she started to tear up again. “I work in an office and you’re on tour half the year, what the hell are we going to do?”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is time. But we can figure it out together, yeah?”

Jenna nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, we can figure it out together.”

They decided to tell their parents together about two months later. Jenna finally had a baby bump; it was small, but enough that Tyler could tell something was there. He had been avoiding his mother’s eyes the whole time.

“So, we’re here today to tell you some, uhm, exciting news,” Jenna started, reaching for Tyler’s hand. He squeezed it in support.

“Oh my gosh,” Jenna’s mother squealed, “are you pregnant? You  _ are _ pregnant! Ahh! Grandbabies!”

Jenna nodded vigorously. “Yeah. I am.”

Both sets of parents broke out into happy applause and reached forward to hug their children. Tyler’s mother pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“So when are you popping the question?” her grin widened. “Do you have an engagement ring yet?”

“Actually... we aren’t getting married.”

Her smile fell. Tyler’s words had attracted the attention of Jenna’s parents as well, and Jenna, who once again appeared by his side. This time, she took his hand.

“What?” Tyler’s mother said.

“What?” Jenna’s mother repeated. “Why would you two  _ not _ get married? You know how bad it looks to have a child and  _ not _ be married--”

“Well that’s the thing,” Jenna explained, her grip on Tyler’s hand tightening, “It’s a different year and a different era and we don’t want to worry about being conventional and old fashioned.”

“Your child needs a stable childhood and home life--”

“And they will. Tyler and I have agreed to split custody so our child does have a normal life, but here’s the thing...” she trailed off and gave Tyler a look. He nodded and took a deep breath. It was time they knew. Tyler was tired of keeping secrets from his parents, especially one so big. They needed to know that about him.

“I’m gay,” Tyler announced. Four pairs of eyes looked over at him. His father raised his eyebrows in surprise, whereas his mother looked even more upset than before. “That’s the reason why we aren’t getting married. Because I’m gay.”

“Are... are you sure?” his mother asked.

“I’m pretty sure.”

“And Jenna, you’re okay with it?” her mother questioned with a tilt of her head.

“I’m okay with it. I want him to be happy, and he wants me to be happy. We dated for a year. We know a lot about each other.”

“Can’t you just...” Tyler knew what his mother was trying to ask.

“No, because I’ve tried. And if I didn’t already know for a fact that I was gay, then I would keep pretending, but I’m done doing that now.”

The only person that wasn’t currently staring at him was Jenna. She was looking at her parents.

“What about--”

“Our jobs?” Tyler hoped he was baring holes into his mother. “We’re taking turns. We’ll make adjustments as needed. We aren’t just going to abandon our child.”

Neither set of parents offered to watch the kid if they were busy. In fact, neither set of parents really wanted anything to do with Jenna and Tyler’s blasphemous child. They had expected that and prepared for it, but it still hurt.

They wanted them to keep the child a secret, not tell any friends or post it online anywhere. Tyler and Jenna reluctantly agreed, although Jenna knew everyone at the office was going to find out. It was a little hard to hide the fact you were pregnant, especially because she knew she was going to look like a beached whale in a few short months.

Not many people really knew who Tyler was anyways. Sure, he considered himself a singer/songwriter and was on a label. Sure, he wrote songs, created albums, and had a small following that listened to his music, and sure, he toured with bigger bands and occasionally on his own, but that was the just of it. No touring for now, not until they could figure out what they were going to do with the baby.

Tyler was there to take care of Jenna when she needed him. He was there when the baby was born. He was there to take the pressure and stress off when people started getting suspicious and Jenna was having a mental breakdown because her parents thought she was a failure and their child was “going to have a crappy childhood.”

He started going out to bars downtown for one night stands on the nights he wasn’t with Jenna. He let random men fuck him in bathroom stalls and in tiny apartments and he let his head reel with the unholy question “what the fuck are we going to do” when he started thinking about things with Jenna.

They had fucked up. No,  _ he  _ had fucked up. He never should have had sex with her when he knew he was gay. He ruined her life, and was a little surprised she was still around.

Jenna had let Tyler name their daughter. He thought Frankie fit her. She was well behaved, quiet, with large brown eyes and a head full of dark hair, despite the fact that she was only a few months old. She looked more like Tyler than she did Jenna. He knew she was a bit bothered by that.

Don’t get him wrong though, that girl could scream when she wanted to. She had a voice on her, just like her father.

“Tyler, just a few hours, right? You know I have work in the morning.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back before midnight, I promise.” he ran fingers through his hair again. Tyler had been taking care of Frankie for weeks now, because Jenna worked a 9-5 job and Tyler wasn’t currently touring. He knew he was taking care of her a lot more than Jenna was. He deserved a night out.

“See you later,” he said as he shut the door behind him. He descended the stairs of his apartment building and climbed into the uber waiting for him.

The man had a large beard and beady eyes. “Where to?”

Tyler gave him the address to Columbus’s most established gay bar, and then turned to look out the window. He still felt bad every time he did this. Knowing he was going out just to get laid, thinking about Jenna and his daughter back home, feeling awful because he couldn’t be straight and marry Jenna and give his child a good life. He rubbed his face in his hands and sighed.

15 minutes later, Tyler stood on the sidewalk, his Uber speeding off down the street after payment, leaving him to stare at the neon sign. The bass thudded in his ears as he followed a group inside and made his way over to the bar. The place was loud and smelled of stale smoke and alcohol, and was decked out in a lot of bright colors.

He ordered a beer. Tyler didn’t drink very often, but he could definitely go for one tonight, especially because his head was reeling. He felt like his life was falling apart.

Tyler spent ten minutes with his head in between his hands, only emerging from his hiding spot to take short sips of his drink. His beer was sweating almost as much as he was.

Jenna probably thought he was out partying with friends, swaying drunkenly on the dance floor, maybe even making out with some stranger. Unfortunately, Tyler was feeling more and more sick the longer he sat here.

He had worked so hard to reach a point where people knew his name and his music. All of that had been ruined by some, some  _ creature. _

A thud next to him caused Tyler to once more emerge from his makeshift cocoon. A man with wild, bright yellow hair alerted the bartender to get him another beer, and Tyler found himself staring. The man was definitely not his type, but there was something extremely attractive about him. He had a bit of scruff, a silver nose ring, and thick black gauges in his ears. Plus, he had tattoos, which wasn’t the interesting part, because Tyler too had his own array of strange markings. Tyler’s, however, were all black, and classy, might he add, while the yellow haired man’s were bright, vibrant, and extremely colorful. He couldn’t tear his gaze away.

When the man looked over, he quirked up an eyebrow, sending Tyler to fumble to turn away. A blush rose to his cheeks.

“Well hello to you too,” he said jokingly, and  _ God,  _ even his voice was attractive. Tyler would listen to a thousand audiobooks if that guy was the narrator.

“Hi,” Tyler mumbled without looking out from his shell. The man cleared his throat.

“I like your shirt.”

Tyler looked down. There was absolutely nothing cool about his shirt. “Uh, thanks.”

“I’ve never seen you here before.”

“Are you here often?” Tyler mustered up the courage to glance at the man once more. 

“Yeah. It’s a good place to come. Lots of people like me, plus the environment is good. Makes me forget about my plethora of problems.”

“I mean, that’s why I’m here. I need a distraction.”

“Distraction from life in general, or just whatever’s going on right now?”

Tyler scoffed. “A little bit of both, I guess. My life is sorta fucked right now.”

“Dude, I have never related more. You a whiskey guy?”

A shrug. “Occasionally.”

He nodded. “Two shots of whiskey, if you don’t mind.”

The bartender slammed down two shot glasses. The stranger raised his in celebration. “To our fucked up lives.”

“Amen,” Tyler muttered sarcastically. He tilted his head back and downed his whiskey, trying to hide the fact that it burned terribly on the way down. He ran a hand through his hair as he sat the glass back on the countertop.

“You know what makes a great distraction?” His eyebrow was raised again. Tyler felt his stomach flip.

“What?”

“Sex.” The man grinned. Tyler leaned back on his stool and crossed his arms.

“Didya come here to get laid?”

“Everyone comes here to get laid.”

“Touche,” replied Tyler. “I’m Tyler, by the way.”

The stranger smiled. “Josh.”

Next thing Tyler knew, he’s pressed up against the wall in Josh’s apartment, which conveniently happened to be only one block away from the bar. His jeans and boxers sat around his ankles, while Josh’s lips were firmly locked around his cock. He bucked up and let out a soft moan.

“Ah, fuck, that feels amazing.”

Josh’s fingers pressed into his inner thighs. Tyler let his head bang against the wall as his fingers buried into Josh’s hair.

He pulled off and smiled from his position on his knees. “Can I fuck you?”

“Please,” Tyler’s voice came out a bit whiny, but that didn’t stop Josh from pulling Tyler into his bedroom. He threw him down onto the bed and crawled on top of him to pull his clothes off where they had gotten caught around his ankles. Tyler helped by yanking his shirt off, leaving himself completely naked. Josh settled down in front of him, his fingers ghosting across the skin on his legs, where he then proceeded to suck a hickey right next to his hipbone. Tyler moaned again.

“Oh, fuck.”

“You like that?” Josh sat up and proceeded to shimmy out of his shirt. “How tight are you?”

“Shouldn’t take that much work,” Tyler informed him, squeezing his eyes shut. He heard a drawer open and the snap of the lube bottle. Josh coated his fingers in a generous amount, before he reached out with his free hand to further spread Tyler’s legs apart. “Are you gonna waRN--” Josh shoved a slicked up finger up Tyler’s ass, causing the brunette to yelp loudly. “Okay, no warning. Got it.”

“Sorry,” Josh replied, sounding absolutely not sorry. He added another finger. Tyler gripped the sheets as his back arched off the bed. Shoving his own fingers up his ass would never amount to others doing it for him. Even now, Josh seemed to really know what he was doing.

Josh added a third. “You good? I’m getting a bit impatient.”

“Fuck me,” Tyler gasped the second Josh removed all of his fingers. He hated that  _ empty  _ feeling in between.

“Yeah, yeah,” Josh’s voice was low and husky as he pulled off his own pants and briefs and grabbed a condom from his bedside drawer. His cock was  _ heavenly,  _ all flushed and hard, and Tyler wanted it inside of him  _ now. _

Josh’s hands gripped Tyler’s hips as he lined himself up and gently shifted Tyler’s legs over his shoulders.

“Ready?” 

“Fuck me,” Tyler repeated, closing his eyes again. His entire body burned with adrenaline as Josh thrusted into him. He let his mouth fall open, not even bothering to worry about the sounds bouncing around the room. 

The bed creaked as Josh picked up speed. Tyler’s hands dove deeper into the sheets, his fingers curling, knuckles white, as he came, Josh riding him through his orgasm. After Josh finished himself, he flopped down next to him on the other side of the bed. The next couple of minutes was full of heavy panting as the two attempted to catch their breath.

“Good?” Josh asked quietly.

“Good,” Tyler breathed.

***

The next morning, Tyler woke up to 47 missed calls from Jenna. It was a few minutes past 6 am and Tyler was now wide awake.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered under his breath a billion times as he pulled his underwear back on and jumped around to shimmy into his jeans. He was supposed to be back at midnight, and now it was six in the morning and Jenna was going to be  _ pissed. _

“Tyler?” Josh rolled over and sat up. His hair was mussed and stuck to his forehead, and his voice, still gruff from sleep, slightly turned Tyler on. He didn’t want to leave, not yet. Josh was very attractive and seemed to have a mutual interest. “What’s going on?”

“I’m so sorry, but I have to go. I forgot I had to be home at a specific time and I’m in such deep shit--”

“Well here, let me give you a ride home at least. It’ll be faster than waiting for a cab or an uber or whatever.”

Tyler sighed with relief. “Thank you. That means so much.”

“Of course,” Josh climbed out of bed to pull on some clothes. He let out a loud yawn as Tyler followed him through his apartment to the front door, where Josh retrieved his keys from a hook on the wall.

The drive was silent. Tyler didn’t want to face Jenna, not yet. He wanted to prolong her wrath as long as possible.

And then of course, Jenna called him again.

Josh looked over. “Who’s that?”

“Uhm, my roommate,” Tyler lied as he answered the call and raised it to his ear. He cleared his throat. “Hey.”

“TYLER, WHAT THE FUCK?”

He winced. “I’m so sorry Jenna, I totally lost track of time--”

“You don’t say? You know I have to fucking work at nine, right? I’ve barely gotten any sleep, Frankie won’t stop crying, and I’m losing my mind! How the hell am I supposed to work today? You said you’d be home at midnight, it’s fucking six in the morning--”

“I made a mistake, okay? You’ve made plenty of those.”

“Don’t start with me, Tyler.”

Anger burned inside of him. He knew he had to be careful with his words. “You know what? No. I am. We were supposed to be together on this, but I have done way more than you. I take care of everything so you can go work your cushy nine to five office job. What about me, though? What about my job? What about all the fucking money I’ve spent, or the time I’ve given up? You can do this one thing for me. I’m sick of it.”

“Tyler--”

“I’ll be home in five.” He ended the call and dropped his phone into his lap. Josh was still looking at him with a frown on his face.

“Everything okay?”

Tyler turned to look out the window. “Peachy.”

***

When they pulled up in front of Tyler’s apartment, he forced a small smile. “Well, thank you for everything.”

“Of course. I hope I was distracting enough.”

He chuckled a little. “You were great. I had fun.”

“Good. Well, uh, I’ll see you around then?”

A nod. “Yeah.”  _ Time to go deal with Jenna’s wrath. _

Tyler waved goodbye to Josh when he reached the top of the staircase, and with a deep breath, he turned to push inside his apartment. Jenna was standing there ready to strike.

She pushed him hard, causing his back to thud against the front door. Behind her, Frankie was lying on her stomach, screaming her lungs out.

“I can’t fucking do this anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Tyler didn’t dare move. Jenna had tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I thought I was ready for kids, but I’m not. Frankie hates me. She absolutely hates me.”

“Babies cry. That’s what they do.”

“You don’t get it! We weren’t prepared for this, we have no support, and my fucking parents want to keep it a secret that they have a granddaughter! I can’t live this way. Maybe we should give her up for adoption.”

Tyler blinked. “But you said--”

“I know what I fucking said.” she leaned against the wall and choked down a sob. “I know what I said, but we, we can’t keep doing this. All we do is fight, and you’re right, Ty. We both have full time jobs. You’ve given up so much of your time to watch her, while I’m at work, but you’re going to go back on tour someday, and then what are we going to do? We can’t afford to take her to daycare, we can barely afford to pay for all this stuff for her and I’m losing my mind. She deserves two loving parents, parents that are together. She deserves a stable family with grandparents that are actually going to love her--”

“Jenna, stop.” Tyler reached out to grab her shoulders. “I know it’s stressful, but we can work things out! She’s our kid, remember? Our kid?”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I can’t. Look at me. I have stretch marks and my feet hurt and I look disgusting. She did that to me.” Jenna ran her fingers through her messy hair. “We were irresponsible. You don’t even, we  _ fucked  _ and you are gay and we will never be together and we have a fucking kid we have to take care of--”

“Jenna,” Tyler said again. “Please.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and with that, Jenna disappeared out the door. Tyler felt tears of his own welling to the surface as he dropped to the carpet and pulled Frankie into her arms.

“Shh, it’s okay baby, Daddy’s here,” he whispered, bouncing her gently as he scrambled to find a bottle. “Did Mommy feed you? Are you hungry?”

Frankie screamed louder in response.

He grabbed her pacifier instead. Frankie’s cries decreased in volume as Tyler paced back and forth, his hand on her lower back as he continued to bounce her over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered to her, tears falling over his eyelids. He was the worst father ever. Maybe Jenna was right. Maybe they should put her up for adoption.

This was all his fault. He should have never slept with Jenna. He should have told her he was gay from the start, then they wouldn’t be in this fucking mess--

The door cracked open, and a familiar, deep voice echoed throughout Tyler’s cluttered apartment. “Tyler?”

_ Shit. _

Slowly, Tyler turned around. Frankie squealed.  _ Shit, shit, shit. _

Josh’s eyes were wide as he closed the door and made his way further into the living room. He cleared his throat as Tyler sat Frankie back down on her stomach and dropped onto the sofa.

“Is... is she yours?”

_ No, I’m babysitting,  _ Tyler thought miserably as he ran a hand through his greasy hair. “Yeah. She’s mine.” Great. Josh would go running now. Nobody wanted to date a dude with a kid.

Surprisingly, Josh didn’t flee. In fact, he did the exact opposite and dropped to the carpet to further inspect her. “Dude, she looks just like you.” He reached out to pull her into his arms. “Hello there, tiny child. What is your name?”

Frankie spit out her pacifier and drooled. Josh laughed and blew a raspberry. “Nice to meet you, pffft.”

“Her name is Frankie.”

“Frankie,” Josh repeated. “That’s adorable.” he wiped away her spit with the corner of his shirt and popped the pacifier back into her mouth. “You are a cute baby. Daddy did a good job.”

Tyler rubbed his eyes. He had to be dreaming. His one night stand was now playing with his daughter. Where was Josh’s basic logic? Tyler had a kid. You don’t date dudes with kids, unless you too have kids, doesn’t Josh have a life?

Why did he even come up here?

Josh exchanged his attention from Frankie to Tyler. “Was that Jenna that left a while ago?”

“Yeah.”

“So... the roommate thing...”

“We technically had been roommates. When we had dated. Then I told her I was gay, and she was pregnant, and basically this is all my fault.”

“She seemed pissed, dude.”

“Yeah. She definitely is not happy with me.”

“So, you're gay. You had sex with a girl, and she got pregnant, and now you have a kid. Wow.”

“Er, yeah.” Tyler kept waiting for Josh to run, to tell Tyler he had made a terrible mistake, but Josh just once again returned his attention to Frankie.

“She’s the one with the cushy nine to five job?” he continued making small talk, like this was a normal thing to have sex with a stranger and then play with their child.

“Yep.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m uh, I’m a musician.” Tyler rubbed his neck again, heat burning under his fingers. He was feeling more and more anxious by the second.

“Oh no way, that’s so cool! What do you play? Do you write your own songs? Are you on a label or anything?” Josh continued to play with Frankie, pushing a toy her way. Frankie grabbed it and squealed happily when it squeaked, her pacifier falling out of her mouth again. Josh popped it back in once more. Tyler didn’t understand how Josh could be so...  _ okay  _ with all of this.

“I play a little bit of everything, piano, drums, guitar, bass, ukulele...” he continued to watch his daughter squeal. She really liked Josh. “And yeah, I write my own stuff. I’m on a label, I guess, listed as a ‘singer-songwriter,’ although I was classify my stuff as more alternative.”

“That’s incredible. Have you toured?”

“Yeah, I’ve toured with some bigger bands. I’ve got the chance to play arenas, and then I’ve gone on my own tours.”

“You have a pretty substantial following?”

“Yeah, I’d say so. I’m thankful for the people that actual buy my stuff.”

“So you’re the alternative George Ezra.” Josh flashed a perfect, pearly white grin. “That’s sick. I’ll have to check out your stuff.”

“I could probably hook you up, I’ve got some albums you could borrow.”

Josh reached out to pull Frankie into his arms and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’d love that. So what happens with the little tyke now?”

Tyler sighed. “Honestly, I have no clue. Jenna stormed off after claiming she no longer wanted anything to do with Frankie ever again. I don’t think that’ll be the case, but for now she’s definitely not going to come back until she at least calms down. My parents want nothing to do with Frankie because she’s blasphemous or whatever the fuck is going through their crazy heads. Jenna’s parents are the same way.”

Josh looked around Tyler’s cluttered apartment which was covered in tons of baby stuff. Even at three months Frankie was spoiled. “So I take it you have been doing most of the babysitting.”

“I’m not touring or anything, so.”

“When were you supposed to go on tour next?”

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know. I was supposed to have a meeting with my tour manager and a representative from the label on Monday, but I don’t that’s really going to happen. I don’t even think another tour is in my future any time soon.”

“Oh, dude, don’t think like that! Sure, Frankie was a surprise, but she’s not going to stop your life from moving forward.”

That’s it. Tyler had to know. “I don’t want to sound rude, but why are you here?”

Josh blinked. “Whaddya mean?”

“I mean, I have a fucking kid, and you’re still here. A squealing baby is enough to make anyone run away.”

“Tyler, I like you. That’s the whole reason I came up here in the first place. I couldn’t just let you slip out of my grasp. Sure, we,” he reached out to cover Frankie’s ears,  _ “fucked, _ but that doesn’t mean we can’t get to know each other better, right? I’m not going to run away because you have a daughter. That’s cool, dude. I love kids. Besides, she’s even cuter than you.” Josh hoisted Frankie up above his head and cooed. “Who’s a cute baby? You are!”

Frankie giggled, her binkie tumbling out of her mouth for the third time. Tyler decided maybe he should get one of those things that attach to her shirt so it wouldn’t get as dirty. Josh laughed. “I guess you really don’t want that in your mouth, huh? Hmm. Are you hungry?”

“I don’t know if Jenna fed her.”

“She’s not screaming.” Josh pulled her close enough to get a whiff of her diaper and his nose wrinkled. “Uh oh. Time for a diaper change.” Frankie was moved to his hip as he pushed off of the carpet. “Where do you keep the diapers?”

“Uhm, somewhere in the bedroom.” Tyler lived in a one bedroom apartment, so his room was just as full of baby stuff as the rest of the place. He followed Josh into the room, becoming more anxious as Josh maneuvered around boxes and toys and clothes. He set Frankie down on Tyler’s bed and turned on the light.

Josh clucked his tongue. “There we go.” he reached for a package of diapers and dumped them on the bed before venturing back to the corner of the room to grab the changing pad (that had actually been Jenna’s contribution.)

Tyler couldn’t believe this was happening. He was watching his one night stand who seemed to be  _ more _ than just a one night stand change his daughter’s diaper. Josh  _ liked _ his daughter.

“You’re staring,” Josh quipped without turning around. Frankie continued to babble. 

“I just, I can’t believe this is happening.”

“What?” Josh snapped the buttons of Frankie’s onesie closed and picked her back up to press another kiss to her head. “All better! Isn’t that right, princess?”

“She loves you,” Tyler stepped closer, a half-smile rising to his lips. Frankie raises her tiny fists and beats them on Josh’s chest.

“This is probably the cutest baby I’ve ever seen.”

“I didn’t know you were so good with kids.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Josh raised an eyebrow. “I had wanted to adopt at one point in my life, but that never ended up happening.” A sigh. “Anyways, I can watch Frankie so you can go to your meeting on Monday. I don’t mind.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. Ty, I like you. A lot. How many times do I have to tell you that before you believe me?” Tyler shrugged. “If you aren’t sick of me, I’d like to get to know you better, and your adorable daughter.”

He ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation. “I like you too.”

“Good. I seriously don’t mind. I’m in between jobs at the moment so I got nothing going on.”

“That would be really awesome. I can pay you--”

“Uhm, definitely not,” Josh interrupted, grinning, “I’m doing it because I  _ want  _ to, okay?”

Tyler took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay. Thank you. That means so much.”

“Of course.” Josh moved Frankie back to his hip. “Does this earn me enough brownie points to kiss you again?”

“I think so.” Tyler leaned forward enough for Josh to kiss him, his hand sliding along Josh’s hip to thumb at exposed skin. It didn’t last long, because Frankie started screaming.

“She’s feeling neglected,” Josh’s grin was once again back, and since this first thing with Jenna started, Tyler wasn’t feeling so worried.

***

Monday morning, Josh showed up half an hour early than the time he was supposed to, and he had  _ coffee _ with him.

“I wasn't sure what you drank, so I got some basic mocha thing. I hope that's okay.” He plopped it down on the coffee table and took a long swig of his. “Anyways, where's the mini you?”

“Uhm,” Tyler blinked, still taken off guard by Josh's constant cheeriness, especially at 8:30 in the morning, “She just fell back asleep. I've been up since like, 6 am trying to get her to stop crying.” He chuckled nervously and reached to rub at his neck.

“Oh, then bro, you really need this.” He nudged the latte Tyler’s way, still grinning ear to ear.

Tyler raised an eyebrow as he reached out for the cup and held it carefully in his hands, letting the warmth settle between his fingers. He wasn't the biggest coffee fan, but after dealing with a screaming baby for that long, he decided it would probably be a good idea if he wanted to survive that meeting. “Is this your way of trying to earn more brownie points?”

Josh laughed. “Possibly.”

Tyler took a drink, trying to ignore the bitter taste as it touched the back of his throat. It was tolerable. “Thanks. I really needed that.”

“I know. So I came early just to make sure everything would be okay with Frankie and whatnot. Has Jenna said anything?”

“No. I sent her some texts but she didn't reply.”

“Hmm. That sucks. No worries though, because I'm here! You'll just have to give me the feeding schedule and show me where all the bottles are and stuff.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Tyler pushed off the sofa and led the way into the mess of a kitchen, that was, like the rest of the house, cluttered. He cleared away some dishes and reached for a clean bottle. “She doesn't have like, a set feeding schedule. I'm sure that's not like, a good thing, but she'll start crying when she gets hungry, so.” He shrugged. “I am a terrible parent, I know.”

Josh clasped him on the shoulder. “Dude, when you become a parent, you aren't going to be good at it. That's just a fact.”

Tyler huffed. “It just feels like I should be doing better, you know?”

“I know. Don't worry though, you'll get better with practice. Parenting is like any other sport.”

Frankie started screaming. Tyler sighed and moved to go get her, Josh's hand locking tight on his shoulder.

“Don't even think about it. I got her. You, go to your meeting.”

“But--”

“Get.” Josh shooed him away. “I promise I'll take good care of her.”

Tyler smiled. An honest to god, real smile. “Thank you.”

***

Tyler's meeting went really well. The album release was planned for December, and his tour manager was working on getting a tour set up for early 2018. He was feeling good, up until he got home and remembered that he had a kid. 

He couldn't go on tour, not with Frankie in his possession. Between staying up to satisfy her needs and playing shows every night, he'd probably pass out from exhaustion.

Tyler trudged up the stairs and sulked to his front door, still pouting as he unlocked it and pushed in. He tried to think semi positively, about what Josh had said about Frankie not stopping his life from moving forward, but that seemed almost impossible. Every parent had to put their life on hold for their child. That's just how things worked. 

Tyler's thoughts paused the second he noticed the condition of his house. Everything was  _ clean.  _

The floors were vacuumed, the living room was no longer cluttered with baby stuff, (and stacked nice and neat in one corner of the room) and it smelled... actually pretty decent. His apartment had never been this clean in the five years he had lived in it.

The kitchen was equally as clean; Josh was washing dishes and humming happily, Frankie strapped to his chest. Tyler's eyes widened. That must have been another one of Jenna’s contributions. Eventually the stuff had piled up to the point where Tyler had no clue what Frankie had exactly.

Josh turned around to face Tyler’s shocked expression. He grabbed Frankie’s hands and waved them around. “Look baby, Daddy’s home! Say hi Daddy!” He pretended to speak as Frankie, talking in a high pitched, baby voice, “Hi Daddy!”

“You cleaned the whole apartment?!” Tyler about shouted. Josh nodded.

“I was very productive today. Sit down, I was just about to make sandwiches.”

“No, you don't have to make me lun--”

“Sit  _ down,”  _ Josh said a little bit more forcefully. Tyler complied, feeling a bit turned on by Josh’s sudden dominance. He didn't seem like the dominant type at all. 

“How was your meeting?” Josh pulled Frankie out of the harness and put her in the height chair, laughing as she slammed her fists down on the tray. She started giggling when Josh stuck his tongue out at her. 

Tyler blinked. Josh would make the perfect dad. He should have been the one in charge of Frankie, not Tyler. “It was good. Everything is going as planned. The album is set to release in December, and a tour is being set up for early next year.”

“Dude! That's awesome!”

“Yeah.” Tyler started rubbing at his neck and looked down at the table. “Except I probably won't be able to tour, because Jenna is MIA and my parents aren't going to do a damn thing.”

Josh shook his head. “Tyler, this is awesome news! You know, the more you tour, the bigger you get, and a new album could mean a hit song, which could mean more radio play, which could mean--”

“I have a kid!” Tyler interrupted loudly, causing Josh to shut his mouth. “I have a kid who has a shitty dad and a shitty mom and I can’t go on tour with a baby. There’s no way. I'll have no one to take care of her, and traveling with a baby is already hell enough, when we go on tour, we're touring for  _ at least  _ a month. There's absolutely no way in hell this would work out.”

Josh shook his head sadly and looked up to meet Tyler’s eyes. He seemed to realize just how stressed out Tyler was. “Do you trust me?”

Tyler shrugged. “I mean, I did let you bang me. And I let you babysit my kid. So... yeah.”

“Then please listen to what I have to say.” Josh cleared his throat and reached out to touch Tyler's wrist softly. “I know things seem rough right now. Jenna disappeared and won't answer your texts or calls. You're having to put your life, your  _ dreams,  _ on hold because you have a kid. But listen to me. I  _ like  _ you. I want to help you as much as I can.”

Tyler raised an eyebrow. “Not just for brownie points?”

That got Josh to chuckle a little. “No, not just for brownie points. I really want to stick around. Is that really hard for you to get?”

A sigh. Tyler once again found himself rubbing his neck. “I’m sorry. Naturally, I’m sort of a pessimist, and Jenna was my last...  _ real  _ relationship, and besides that, I’ve been living off one night stands. No offense, but I really didn’t think I’d ever see you again. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re still here. You are probably the kindest, happiest, most attractive person I’ve ever met.”

Josh grinned. “So you  _ do _ think I’m attractive?”

“Uhm, yeah?” He felt his face turning red. “Anyways, I would like to get to know you better.”

“And I’d love to get to know you better. I want to be around to help you take care of Frankie. I want to take you on dates and kiss you some more and... maybe, be in a relationship? Later down the line.” Josh’s face was red now too. It made Tyler feel a bit better.

“I think I’d like that too.”

“Good. How does tomorrow night sound?” Josh pushed out from the table, once again sticking his tongue out at Frankie, who burst into another round of giggles. She began to bang on the tray of her high chair with her tiny fists again, causing both Tyler and Josh to laugh.

Tyler watched as Josh pulled out sliced cheese and turkey out of the fridge and began to make sandwiches. He still wasn’t happy Josh was making him lunch, but Josh seemed pretty adamant about it, so Tyler wasn’t going to complain.

“Who’s going to watch Frankie?”

Josh turned around and grinned. “I’ve told my parents all about you and your cute baby. They said they would watch Frankie anytime you needed them too.”

Tyler’s eyes widened. Seriously?  _ Seriously? _ Strangers were offering to watch his daughter and his own parents shamed her. He felt himself tearing up.

Josh’s smile turned into a frown. He wiped his hands off on his joggers and moved to touch Tyler’s shoulder. “Dude, you okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Tyler replied, ducking his head as he wiped away his tears, “I just, I can’t believe how  _ nice _ you and your family are. My own parents won’t even admit that they have a granddaughter and it’s so  _ hard--” _

“That’s why we’re here, to help you, okay? I don’t want you to be stressed. I know how difficult it is to deal with that, and anxiety, and feeling lost. I’ve been there.”

Tyler took a deep breath and looked back over to see Josh had returned to sandwich making. “Do your parents know you’re gay?”

“Yeah, I told them when I was eighteen. They were cool with it, which made me feel better about myself. They’re very supportive about me finding someone to marry, and they were there during my ‘I really want to adopt a child’ phase. I talk to my parents about everything.”

Tyler was jealous.

“I know it might be a bit weird for you to meet my parents, considering we still don’t know that much about each other, but they’re really excited to meet you. And I’ll try to make things... not weird. As much as I can.” he threw another smile over his shoulder. “So here’s the plan. We’re going to eat lunch, and then tomorrow, I’m going to come pick you and Frankie up around six, and then we’ll drop her off at my parent’s place and head to the restaurant. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds good. Really good.” Tyler sighed happily and cracked his neck as he looked over at his daughter, who seemed very interested in her own hands. She banged them a couple more times and then started crying.

“I’ll feed her,” Tyler said before Josh could do anything. He stood up from the table as well to make Frankie a bottle, standing right next to Josh as he mixed baby formula with some hot water. Josh leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. Tyler blinked. “What was that for?”

Josh only shrugged in response. “Do you want mustard on your sandwich?”

Tyler found himself smiling once more. It almost felt like he and Josh were a normal, married couple doing normal coupley things.

He was more than sure he could get used to this.

***

Later that night after Josh had left, Tyler was watching Frankie play with a colorful, stuffed dog that rattled loudly. She would shake it and then burst into laughter. Tyler was sitting on the carpet with her, smiling.

“You like that, huh?” She turned to look at him, and a smile rose to her face. Frankie raised a hand and opened and closed her fist. Tyler reached out to scoop her into his arms and hugged her close. She was truly a beautiful girl. He still couldn’t believe she was his.

Frankie was reaching the four month mark. Tyler guessed he should probably do some research. However... the internet might lead him to believe Frankie was in critical condition when she really wasn’t. He would have to schedule some checkups and stuff. Jeez, he really had no clue what he was doing. 

There was a knock at the door, and before Tyler could get up to open it, Jenna came in. She was still in her work clothes, looking a little rough. There were two, tiny mascara trails on her cheeks.

Jenna maneuvered her way over to where Tyler was sitting with Frankie clutched to his chest and dropped to the carpet next to them. She took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry,” she said bluntly. Tyler looked over at her.

“What are you thinking?”

She didn’t reply, and looked down at Frankie again. “Can I hold her?” She asked instead. With a nod, Tyler passed their child to Jenna and watched her closely as she pulled Frankie close to her chest. She started crying again.

“I’m... a... t-terrible... mother,” Jenna said between sobs. Tyler frowned and moved to give her a half hug. He thought about what Josh had said earlier that day.

“A new parent is a bad parent by default. We gotta practice to be good parents.”

She sniffed and leaned into Tyler’s hug, her head resting on his shoulder. “You’re a good person, Tyler. I’m sorry for screaming at you. I just.... I needed to clear my head. This is a lot.”

“I know it is. Nobody said parenting was easy.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been so crappy lately. I’ve been selfish. I’ve let you do practically everything for Frankie and I didn’t even think about how it affected you. You... you must have been exhausted.”

Tyler snorted. “Yeah. Luckily, she’s finally sleeping at night for six to seven hours at a time, so I’m able to get some sleep. There has been times where she’s refused to stop crying, but y’know. Stuff happens.”

Jenna pressed a kiss to Frankie’s head and pulled her away from her chest to get a look at her. She half-smiled. “It’s sorta mind blowing how much she looks like you.”

“Yeah. I must have strong genes, or something.”

Jenna laughed softly and moved to lay Frankie back on her stomach. Their daughter returned to playing with her plethora of toys.

“I’m going to try to be better. We both agreed to take this challenge head on, and I... definitely need to put forth more effort. I’m sorry for being such a jerk, and yelling at you, and everything. It wasn’t right and I don’t have an excuse. I’m just... frustrated, with everything.”

“I am too, Jen. It’s okay. We can do this together, you and I, without worrying about what other people think, or about our parents. You and I, we  _ got _ this.”

Jenna smiled and pressed a quick peck to Tyler’s cheek. “Thank you for being so kind and patient with me.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

She nodded. “So... who was that guy that left here a little while ago?”

Tyler raised an eyebrow and gently nudged her off of him. His gaze returned to Frankie. Josh had left around three in the afternoon, and now it was nearing six. Had Jenna been sitting in the parking lot that long?

Jenna seemed to almost read Tyler’s mind. “I sat in the parking lot for a while, deciding to come talk to you or not. I called a friend, we both cried, and she convinced me it would be in our best nature to talk to each other. So, here I am. Now tell me about this guy. He’s cute.”

Tyler felt himself blushing again. His hand self consciously moved to the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, uhm, his name is Josh.”

Jenna wiggled her eyebrows. “Oooh, Josh.”

Tyler shoved her. “He’s really nice. He was actually watching Frankie today while I went to meet with my tour manager and a label rep.”

“How’d that go?”

“Good. The album is set to release in December, and a tour is being scheduled for early next year.” He bit his lip. “I haven’t told anyone in the business about Frankie.”

Jenna nodded. “Touring will be hard with a baby, that’s for sure.”

“Well, Frankie will be nearing ten months by the time the tour starts. She’ll be much more manageable then.”

“True,” she agreed.

“And, Josh said he and his parents would be willing to help us out.”

“I get the feeling Josh is more than just a babysitter.”

“Uhm, yeah. We’re actually going on a date tomorrow night. I think... I think we might have a potential relationship here, Jen.”

She clapped her hands together, causing Frankie to turn her head and blink. A tiny grin rose to her face as she grabbed her squeaky dog and began banging it on the carpet. Frankie was aggressive. Tyler liked that.

“Ty, that’s so great! I’m so happy for you!”

“Yeah. I like him a lot. He’s so good with Frankie, it’s almost... strange. Watching him interact with her is so calming. The dude is a natural.”

“I can’t wait to meet him. Who’s watching Frankie tomorrow while you’re out?”

“His parents. Apparently they are also very excited to meet her. And me, I guess.”

Jenna laughed. “Usually you don’t meet the parents so early.”

“Usually boys don’t stick around to date guys with kids.”

“Very true. Josh doesn’t seem like the normal type though. I mean, his hair is bright yellow. That accounts for something, right?”

“Right. Frankie seems very interested in that.”

She laughed again. It was nice, hearing Jenna laugh. Tyler hadn’t heard her do that in a long time. “I bet. She’s a girl of many talents. Aren’t you, baby?” Jenna shifted so she could lay down on her stomach and looked Frankie in the eyes to blow a raspberry. Frankie started giggling loudly. “You’re a good girl.”

“She’s a very good girl.”

Jenna turned to look up at Tyler again. She sat up straight and cleared her throat. “Would you, uhm, be okay if I stayed the night? I have a bag in the car, I just... I really... I want to be around our daughter tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’d be really cool. Just like old times, right?”

They shared a smile. “Yeah,” she said softly. “Just like old times.”

Tyler pushed himself up off the carpet. “Hey, did you eat dinner yet? I was going to order some Chinese takeout and have a glass of wine. Wanna join?”

“That sounds lovely. Will you order lots of Chow Mein?”

“Duh.”

Later, Tyler and Jenna sat on the couch eating takeout and drinking peach wine, Frankie already down for the night. Jenna had fed her, tears still in her eyes, and had changed her into pajamas before setting her down in her crib. Tyler had given her another hug before they settled down.

“You know,” she started, “By the time Frankie graduates high school, you’ll almost be fifty.”

“Ugh,” Tyler pretended to shudder, “I’ll be so  _ old. _ Maybe I’ll even be on my death bed.”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Nah. It’s just weird to think about. I’ll be forty-two. Even when she’s five... how are we going to do school?”

“We don’t need to think that far ahead. It’ll only stress us out.”

She shrugged and reached for her wine glass. Jenna seemed more interested in watching the carbonation bubble instead of actually drinking it. “What if you’re big? Selling out arenas and stuff, just by yourself. How is Frankie going to ever see her dad?”

“She’ll always come first.” Tyler was more than certain he would stand by that statement.

“I know that. I just don’t want you to have to turn down your dreams because of our... unconventional relationship. And I really hope that our unconventional lifestyle won’t bother her too much, especially if things work out with Josh.”

“Lots of people have divorced parents, y’know. Not that we are divorced or anything, but split custody is a normal thing. We can make it so she gets to see us both equally. Things will get easier when she gets older.”

“Yeah, but that’s a long ways away.” Jenna moved to once more rest her head on Tyler’s shoulder, and he welcome it, adjusting so his arm was around her waist. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch.”

“You weren’t. It’s okay. We’re both stressed out and frustrated and stuff.”

“No. Even in the beginning, when you told me you were gay. I was... I was so  _ angry.  _ For some reason, I felt like you were only doing that to spite me. And I know it isn’t something you’re choosing. I know you can’t just...  _ not _ be gay. And I’m happy you’re able to go out and find someone to be in a potential relationship with. I’m happy that our relationship is okay now. I’m just sorry we had to wade through so much crap to get to this point.”

“I’m sorry too. I should have...” he trailed off and sighed loudly. Tyler wasn’t quite sure how to say this. “I should have come clean. I thought I could trick myself, you know? That if I pretended long enough that I was straight, if I dated enough girls and had enough sex that magically I would just...  _ be  _ straight. I know it doesn’t work that way, but that’s how I was feeling. I should have told you from the beginning. I should have never... I should have never slept with you and then announced I was gay. That was a crappy thing for me to do.”

Jenna huffed and changed her position so that she was sitting cross legged. She polished off the rest of her wine and reached for her box of Chow Mein noodles. “We both made mistakes, but we learn and we continue forward.”

Tyler nodded. “Exactly. We can be good parents, I know it. We’re just... learning as we go. Like we’re taking a math course.”

“Yes, or we’re on a soccer league, working our way up to varsity.”

“Yeah. We’ve got this. We’ll be the best damn unconventional parents there ever was.” He raised his hand and grinned ear to ear when Jenna met him halfway for a high five.

Jenna snuggled back into his shoulder after setting down her noodles and closed her eyes. “I really hope things work out with Josh,” she whispered.

Tyler hoped so too.

***

Jenna only worked a half day the following day, and came back around one to help feed Frankie. She also went with Tyler and Frankie to the grocery store to help stock up on some baby stuff and fill up Tyler’s fridge. Jenna paid for everything, saying she needed to “make up for lost time.”

When they got home, Jenna put Frankie in her height chair and gave her some cold rings to chew on. Apparently she was starting to teeth and that was supposed to help, according to the doctor. Jenna had called to schedule some appointments, which made Tyler feel a bit better. He was glad she was around to help. 

The two of them got busy putting away groceries. “I think it’s getting about time for Frankie to start eating baby food,” Jenna said as she put a loaf of bread on the counter. “I saw somewhere that babies should start eating solid, well, solid compared to formula, food around four months. We’ll have to check in with the doc first though. I can ask at her checkup next week.”

“Awesome. I’ll have to donate an entire drawer for her jars of food.” Tyler turned around to face his daughter. “You take up a lot of room, you know that?”

Frankie threw her ring on the floor and screamed happily. Jenna laughed as she went to go pick it up and wash it off before giving it back to her.

“Jerk,” Tyler muttered teasingly, a half-smile still on his face as he went back to putting groceries into his fridge. “Yeah, that’s fine. Should be interesting seeing her smear mashed up fruits and veggies all over her face.”

“I think it’ll be cute. We’ll have lots of pictures.”

“As long as we don’t get her anything with bananas, I’ll be happy.”

Jenna scoffed jokingly. “You and your strange hatred for bananas.”

“It’s not strange! They are gross and I forbid my daughter from eating them.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What if Frankie likes bananas?”

Tyler gasped loudly and put a hand over his heart in mock offense. “Traitor!” They both burst into laughter and turned to look at their daughter, who was giggling along with them. Jenna looked over at Tyler and reached out to touch his hand.

“I think we’ll be okay,” she said, smiling. Tyler agreed.

Later that evening, Tyler was waiting patiently for Josh to come pick him and Frankie up. He was fiddling with his sleeves nervously, not really knowing what to expect. Tyler knew how lame it was for him to be acting like this, especially because it was  _ Josh  _ and Josh was sweet and kind, and perhaps even...  _ perfect. _

Jenna had helped him pick out an outfit to wear. They had decided on a grey, long sleeved dress shirt that cuffed around his wrists, with a long, black tie, and a pair of nice, black slacks. Tyler had also decided on his floral vans, because he still needed a “piece of him” to go along on his date. Jenna had rolled her eyes, but that smile never left her face.

He had gelled his hair and put on some cologne. After about a billion glances in the mirror, Tyler felt ready.

Frankie was laying in her carrier, her eyelids fluttering shut. Tyler guessed she must had been tired; they had a busy day. Her stuffed dog laid in her lap, her tiny hand latched around its leg. 

Tyler reached over for the drawstring bag contained everything and anything Josh’s parents might need for the night; diapers, pacifiers, some toys, a blanket, and a plethora of other things. Jenna had already taken the liberty of dressing Frankie in pajamas before she had left for the night.

The doorbell rang. Tyler stood up, stealing one last glance at his daughter before he went to answer the door. There was Josh, grinning ear to ear, his yellow hair tamed for once with hair gel. He was dressed similar to Tyler, sporting a dark, navy blue dress shirt, some khakis, and a pair of ratty, black Chucks. Tyler had to laugh to himself. It seemed Josh had a similar idea when it came to footwear.

“Hey,” Josh said. Tyler pulled open the door and gestured for him to come in.

“I got everything ready to go. Frankie just fell asleep.”

Josh crouched down to press a kiss to her forehead. “She’s so cute. My parents are going to love her.”

“Yeah! I hope so.” he tapped his foot nervously as he swung the drawstring bag over his shoulder. Josh grabbed the handle of Frankie’s carrier and looked over at Tyler.

“You ready to go?”

“Yep.” After they turned the lights off and Tyler locked the door of his apartment, they headed down to Josh’s Volkswagen, where Josh strapped Frankie into the backseat without even causing her to stir in her sleep. Tyler was more and more surprised every time he hung out with Josh. He had struggled immensely to put that stupid thing in the first time.

They were quiet for the first few minutes of the drive, until Josh asked, “How are things with Jenna?”

“Good! We had a talk, and she apologized for leaving me to do everything. I think she’s going to be a big help now. Between you and her, I think Frankie is going to be just fine.”

Josh blinked and his face softened. “You... you want me in Frankie’s life?”

“You’re so good with her. I could learn a thing or two from you.”

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

Tyler reached out for Josh’s hand, and for the rest of the trip, their hands rested in between the armrests with their fingers intertwined.

***

Josh’s parents loved Frankie. Josh had promised that it wasn’t a surprise, but Tyler still had been worried. They were incredibly sweet to Tyler too, asking him all kinds of questions about his personal life. They probably would have asked him a billion more if Josh hadn’t said they really had to get going because they had dinner reservations at 7.

The restaurant was very nice and Tyler found himself a little intimidated. Josh assured him it was nothing, but this really didn't seem like nothing. 

Tyler had decided that he wanted to use this date to get to know more about Josh. Even though they had spent quite some time together, he realized that Josh knew significantly more about him than he did about Josh. 

“So you said you were between jobs, what’s the mean exactly?” Tyler asked, raising an eyebrow as he took a drink of his Coke. Josh chuckled and wiped his mouth on his napkin.

“Well, uh, yeah. I’m not currently employed, if that’s what you’re asking. I used to work at Starbucks, and then I worked at Guitar Centre for a couple weeks, but I ended up having to quit because some friends asked if I could fill in as their drummer while they went on tour, so I did that for about a month and a half, and it was awesome. I loved touring a lot.”

Tyler blinked. “You’re a drummer?”

“Yep.” Josh shrugged nonchalantly, like it was a big deal, but that seemed like a big deal to Tyler. Why hadn’t he brought that up when Tyler mentioned he was a  _ musician? _

“Dude! That’s awesome! I’d totally love to work with you on some drum tracks and stuff, right now I’m doing a little bit but most is done by people just hired on to help with backing tracks.”

“Yeah, that’d be really cool. I’d like that.”

They spent the rest of the night discussing their childhoods, their dreams and aspirations, their favorite colors, movies, foods, places. Tyler found himself falling deeper and deeper for Josh with each minute he spent with him. Josh seemed incapable of being mean to anyone. He was possibly the nicest person ever. Did Josh have any flaws? Everything at  _ all _ that Tyler was bothered by?

It didn’t seem like it. Josh actually seemed perfect. Sitting across from him for hours had made Tyler notice little things, like the spray of freckles across his nose, his deep, brown eyes that crinkled at the corners whenever he smiled, (and Josh was  _ always  _ smiling) and his straight white teeth-- Tyler was turned on. He was very turned on, just thinking of getting to kiss him later that night.

Josh had brought Tyler back to his apartment. He seemed just as eager as the younger boy, his hand on Tyler’s thigh the whole drive over there. The second Josh had shut the door, Tyler pressed him up against the wall and kissed him softly, already toeing off his shoes. Josh’s hands found their way to his hips as he grinded down against him. Tyler moaned.

“You’re perfect,” Josh mumbled, sending a chill down Tyler’s spine. He couldn’t wait. He wanted to touch every part of Josh that his fingers could reach.

Tyler moved to loosen Josh’s tie and start unbuttoning his dress shirt. “Can I top tonight?”

“Yeah,” he whispered, tightening his grip on Tyler’s hips. “You eager?”

“Very.”

“Let’s move to the bedroom then, sound good?”

“Mmhmm,” Tyler breathed, sliding Josh’s shirt off his shoulders. They moved quickly, stumbling over each other’s feet, until Josh hit the edge of his bed and tumbled backwards. Tyler straddled him, his fingers still ghosting over Josh’s body anywhere he could reach. His lips moved to suck a purple mark into Josh’s neck. Josh bunched his hands in the fabric of Tyler’s shirt.

“I know I saw you yesterday, but I’ve missed you,” he spoke calmly, like they were still at dinner and not about to fuck. Tyler sat up and went to unbutton Josh’s khakis.

“I’ve missed you too,” he lifted his hips enough to give him room and tugged down pants and boxers, taking Josh’s cock into his hands. Tyler gave a few tentative strokes and looked up to confirm that he could keep going. Josh’s noise of affirmation was all Tyler needed. He spit on his hand and continued to jack Josh off.

“Take your pants off,” Josh begged after a minute, his back arching off the bed to push himself into Tyler’s palm. He was craving friction now-- something more than just Tyler’s hand. “Please. Need you.”

“Yeah?” Tyler began to pull off his own pants and briefs, Josh helping to unbutton his shirt at the same time. They were masters at multitasking.

The minute their cocks touched, a wave of heat passed between the two of them. Tyler went back to kissing him, pushing harder this time, not trying for accuracy. His tongue brushed against the roof of Josh’s mouth, causing a moan to escape from the older man’s lips. Josh’s hand was slighter bigger, and fit snugly around their dicks as he used his advantage to stroke them both.

“Want me fuck you?”

Josh about died. “Uh huh. No prep, jus’, go straight in.”

Tyler pulled away and looked at him quizzically. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m prepped enough. Did it before dinner.”

Tyler’s stomach clenched as he envisioned Josh sitting naked on his bed, grunting heavily as he shoved fingers inside himself. God, that was hot. He wanted Josh even more.

“Condoms?”

“Bedside table.”

Score. Tyler fumbled blindly in the dark, his eyes still adjusting as his hand wrapped around a package. He tore it open with his teeth and rolled it on. “Lube?”

“Bedside table,” Josh repeated impatiently. Tyler didn’t blame him.

Finally, after applying copious amounts of lube, (Tyler was afraid of hurting him,) Tyler lined himself up and pushed in slowly, ready to pull out if Josh couldn’t take the stretch. Fortunately, Josh seemed fine. He groaned loudly, his hands flying to latch onto any part of Tyler’s body he could find, his fingernails digging into skin. Tyler bit his lip and worked up a steady motion, moving quicker as the time passed.

The two of them sat in silence after they had both came. Josh was the one to roll over and break the silence.

“Wanna shower with me?”

“Can we make out?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

***

The two arrived back at Josh’s parent’s place around midnight to pick up Frankie. Luckily for them, she was fast asleep, her tiny hands still clutching her stuffed dog.

After thanking the Dun’s, Josh strapped Frankie in the back seat and climbed into the car. His clothes stuck to his skin (because Josh didn’t dry off after showers, which was very strange to Tyler, but hey, what could you do) and his hair was pushed back. Tyler stared at him.

“You’re hot,” he blurted out. Josh laughed quietly.

“So are you.”

Tyler craned his neck to look at his sleeping daughter. “She loves that thing. We should name it.”

“Let’s call him Larry. That way we can tell people Frankie is hanging out with Larry and it’ll be hilarious.”

Tyler nodded in agreement. “Works for me. How you feeling?”

Josh didn’t reply until after he had started the car and gotten on the road. “Fine. I’m a little sore, but that’s expected, right?”

“Was it...” Tyler thought very hard about how to phrase this statement, “Up to par?”  _ Seriously? How old are you? Weirdo! _

Josh scoffed. “Sex with you is always gonna be good. We’ve fucked twice and it’s been up to par. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not. I’m just... making sure.” He paused. “Are you going to stay over?”

“I don’t see why not. Can I sleep in the same bed as you?”

“No, I was gonna make you sleep on the floor.” Tyler rolled his eyes. “Of course you can sleep in the same bed as me. We can snuggle. Bro snuggles. Broggles.”

“That sounds good to me,” Josh grinned.

He helped put Frankie down once they arrived back to Tyler’s apartment, gently lowering her into her crib before he peeled off his clothes down to his boxers. Josh had insisted on taking care of everything Frankie related, leaving Tyler to get ready for bed. After he brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas, he sat down next to Josh, who was watching Frankie sleep from the edge of the bed.

“I can’t get over how much she looks like you,” Josh murmured. Tyler reached out to hold his hand, feeling significantly more comfortable when Josh squeezed it in support.

“That’s what Jenna said too.”

“Have you guys thought about what she’ll be like when she’s older?”

“We’ve discussed it. I’ll be old as fuck.”

Josh snorted. “Nah. It’s good to have your kids later in life. Having them early is fine too, don’t get me wrong, but I feel like that’s mostly left to like, super religious people. Like Mormons or something.”

“They do have kids quite early, don’t they?”

“Yeah. But that’s besides the point.”

Tyler sighed and closed his eyes. “My manager wants me to have my definitive answer for the tour by the end of the week.”

“You’ve told him yes already, right?”

“That’s my problem. I can’t bring Frankie with me. Between staying up to help her and playing shows, I will be physically exhausted. The both of us will be cranky the whole time. Jenna won’t be able to take care of her because she works a full time job, and this tour is supposed to last two months. I don’t know what to do.”

“Dude, we’ve talked about this. I’ll take care of Frankie.”

“You want me to leave my four month old baby with you for two months?”

Josh shrugged. “Or I could just come with you. I’ll be like... the nanny. And this way, you’ll be able to see her whenever. You won’t have to do anything.”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to burden you with that--”

“Shut it.” Josh smiled. “I’ve missed tour life. You’d be doing me a favor, really. Getting to hang out with a hot dad and a cute baby is a plus.”

Tyler scoffed loudly, his cheeks burning red. Hot dad. That was a new one. It was still a little surreal for him to think that, yeah, he was a  _ father. _ “You seriously would be okay with taking care of Frankie all day? And all night?”

“Yeah! I’d be honored. I could rent my apartment out while we were gone as an air B n’ B and make some income. Everything would be real copacetic.”

“Can I at least pay you? I’d feel really shitty if I didn’t. Nannying is a hard job, especially nannying a baby. She’s going to be eating actual food by that point-- while, not actual food per say, baby food--”

“Ty. Look at me.” Josh looked over at Tyler with a serious look on his face. “I said I wanted to help you. You said you trusted me. So let’s just see where this takes us, okay? The tour is still months away. That gives us plenty of time to figure out the kinks. For now, you tell your manager you’re ready. Okay?”

Tyler leaned forward to kiss him. It was soft, not passionate, but gentle, and their lips sorta stuck when he pulled away. Josh blinked.

“Does that mean okay?”

“Yeah,” Tyler nodded. “Okay.”

***

The following months flew by as Tyler began to meet with the label several times a month for meetings to discuss album promotions and street teams and the venues he was going to play. Tyler finally told everyone that he had a daughter-- and showed plenty of pictures to prove it. He had been preparing for a heavy blow, but everyone seemed very excited for him. No one cared that he wasn't married. Tyler had told them that his “friend” Josh was coming along to take care of her, and that was all his managers and the label reps needed to hear. 

He and Jenna worked out times for her to come over and visit Frankie. She was more than okay that Frankie was going on tour with him, and she even got to meet Josh. Jenna made it very clear that she approved. 

“He's like, the sweetest guy ever,” she grinned. Tyler nodded, his grin even wider. 

“I know, right?”

Josh became Tyler’s number one fan. He went on Amazon and purchased all of Tyler’s albums. He promoted Tyler's new singles on every social media site he had (which was surprisingly a lot) and told all his friends to check out Tyler’s music. Even when the tour dates became available to the public, Josh did his damndest to make sure people were coming to the shows. There were a few fans who were beginning to speculate about Josh-- this random dude was suddenly posting about Tyler everywhere, but it didn't bother Tyler one bit. He was okay with the fans thinking that. Tyler loved Josh. He loved him more than he had ever loved anyone before. Well, besides Frankie of course. He had loved her since the moment he first lay eyes on her. 

Their relationship was going well. Tyler felt like he could be  _ himself _ with Josh-- something he really hadn’t ever felt with anyone he had ever been with. Even with Jenna, Tyler felt like there were sometimes that he had to walk on eggshells around her. With Josh, he didn’t have to do that. It was almost as if Tyler’s life was a thousand piece puzzle, and for months he had been searching for the missing piece: the missing piece that happened to be Josh Dun. Tyler was no longer stressing out about his life as “Musician Tyler” and his life as “Parent Tyler” because the puzzle was complete.

They were reaching their eight month mark when Tyler decided he was going to propose. He knew it was early, extremely early, but he didn’t see himself with anyone  _ but _ Josh. Tyler would even go as far as to say he felt like Josh was his frickin’ soulmate. The tour was starting soon, Josh was going to be with him for the next two months, so this was something Tyler really wanted to do.

He had thought about being super cliche and romantic, but that plan fell through after Tyler realized he was absolute shit at that stuff. So they had settled down together on Tyler’s sofa for a movie night with some wine and four pizza boxes. Frankie was staying the week with Jenna before she came along on Tyler’s tour.

They were watching  _ The Breakfast Club, _ per Josh’s request of indulging on good ‘80s movies. Really, though, Tyler had been fiddling nervously with the small box in his hoodie pocket and glancing over at Josh several times instead of actually paying attention to the movie. Josh had his arm around Tyler’s shoulders, his attention focused on the television as he used his wine glass to point things out or make a joke. It definitely helped Tyler feel a bit better, but he was still extremely nervous, especially asking so early into the relationship. He didn’t want Josh to think he was weird or too clingy for proposing.

Josh paused the movie and looked over at Tyler curiously. “Dude, is everything okay? You seem... not yourself.”

That’s because Tyler was antsy and his leg was bouncing and he was afraid he would fuck everything up. “I’m sorry this isn’t the most romantic of dates.”

Josh laughed lightly. “Not every date has to be romantic. As long as I get to spend time with you, I’m happy.”

That made Tyler feel a bit better. He stole a glance at the television screen and took a deep breath. “Do you mind if I get some things off my chest?”

“Not at all. Whatcha thinking?”

“I’m thinking about us. Well, you, and the night we met.”

Josh raised an eyebrow. Tyler tightened his grip around the box. “Oh?”

“I just, I was really stressed out, because of Frankie, and my relationship with Jenna wasn’t working out very well either. I felt sick. And honestly, I thought I’d drink my beer, people watch, and go home. But you changed everything. And you... you were different than anyone else I’ve had a one night stand with.”

“Because it turned into an actual relationship?” Josh grinned. Tyler scoffed.

“Besides that. You’re just, you’re an incredible person. You’re so charitable, and humble, and kind, and compassionate. There aren’t a lot of people like that out there in the world, y’know? So there’s that.” Tyler cleared his throat. “I know we haven’t been together that long, definitely not long enough for me to be giving you this speech, but I have to put it out there. Josh, I love you.” It wasn’t the first time either of them had said those three words, but there was something  _ different  _ about this time. Josh’s eyes crinkled. “You changed my life. You helped me piece myself back together and give myself a good relationship with my daughter. You made me realize that she’s not a burden, but a blessing. And you’re so  _ good _ with her. I can’t see anyone else being in my daughter’s life. I can’t see myself being with anyone  _ but _ you. I feel like... I feel like you’re my soulmate, like from the start of humanity, we were just... meant to be together. And I know it’s cliche and cheesy to say that, but it’s true. So, here we go.” Finally, Tyler took the box out of his hoodie pocket and cautiously cracked it open, revealing a gorgeous, sterling silver ring. Josh’s eyes widened, but he said nothing.

“Josh, will you marry me? I know it’s a little early, but--”

“Tyler,” Josh interrupted him, his hand flying out to latch onto both of Tyler’s shoulders, “Shut up.” He kissed him hard, causing Tyler to sink into the couch cushions and let his mouth do the work.  _ God, _ he was so in love.

When they broke apart, Josh gave Tyler a bright smile. “‘Course I’ll marry you, bro. But only because you have a cute baby.”

Tyler laughed. “Dang, I knew she was the real reason you’d say yes. Shoot.”

Josh nodded towards the ring. “Put it on me?”

“Oh, yeah. Duh.” he gently pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto Josh’s left ring finger. The older man lifted his hand slightly to observe it under the hazy glow of the TV.

“It’s perfect,” he whispered. Tyler pressed a kiss to Josh’s cheek. Suddenly, his future seemed brighter. Josh was going to  _ marry him.  _ His daughter and his fiance were touring with him, and then he would get to see the both of them every single day for the rest of his  _ life. _

Perfect. Everything was absolutely perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me at pastelxmess on tumblr so we can talk about Josh Dun or something


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